The 2002 Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament gets underway on Friday, Nov. 22 through Monday, Nov. 25. Louisville earned the No. 1 seed and a share of the C-USA regular season title with No. 2 seed South Florida. Saint Louis' Marilyn Nolen is only one victory away from becoming the third Division 1 coach to tally 800 wins at four-year institutions. Catch up on all the latest info in this week's C-USA Volleyball Notebook.

C-USA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
BRITNEY HURST, Tulane
Sr., OH, Baton, Rouge, La. (Southern Lab)

BRITNEY HURST earned C-USA Player of the Week honors for the period ending Nov. 17, after averaged 5.70 kills and 5.40 digs per game to lead the Green Wave to a pair of C-USA wins last week. Tulane captured its first ever win against the Cougars at Hofheinz Pavilion to finish with a perfect 6-0 record on the road. With a career-high 29 digs against Memphis, Hurst surpassed former teammate Kim Sentmore's record of 438 to set the school's single-season digs record with a total of 452. She also posted 29 kills against the Tigers to notch her 21st double-double of the season. Tulane's seven-match winning streak is the longest for the Green Wave since 1994 when they won eight in a row to end the regular season. The win also gives Tulane its highest win total since 1992 when the Green Wave finished 24-16.


AMONG THE RANKED
Here is a look at the latest AVCA/USA Today poll for the week of Nov. 18

1. USC
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Stanford
5. Nebraska
6. Minnesota
7. UC Santa Barbara
8. Pepperdine
9. Northern Iowa
10. Long Beach State
11. Santa Clara
12. North Carolina
13. Washington State
14. Wisconsin
15. Eastern Washington
16. Arizona
17. Penn State
18. South Carolina
19. Kansas State
20. Georgia Tech
21. UCLA
22. Missouri
23. San Diego
24. Utah
25. Ohio State

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Washington (70), California (44), Arizona State (41), Texas (28), Fresno State (27), LOUISVILLE (25), Arkansas (23), Colorado State (17), Michigan (11), SOUTH FLORIDA (9), Texas A&M (8), Michigan State (8), Loyola-Chicago (6), Indiana (4).

MIDWEST REGIONAL RANKINGS
Here is a look at the Midwest Volleyball Regional Rankings for the week of Nov. 4. Conference USA had five schools ranked in the region, including three of the top five.

1. South Florida
2. Louisville
3. Cincinnati
4. UW-Milwaukee
5. Loyola
6. Saint Louis
7. Houston
8. UT-Martin
9. Cleveland State
10. Morehead State

2002 C-USA TOURNAMENT
Louisville defeated South Florida in the final regular season match to clinch the No. 1 seed in the 2002 Healthy Choice Conference USA Volleyball Tournament (Friday-Monday, November 22-25 ) in Chicago. The Cardinals (23-4, 12-1) snapped USF's perfect 12-0 league record with a 3-1 win last Saturday and will share the C-USA regular season title with the Bulls.

South Florida garnered the No. 2 seed with a 12-1 conference mark and 26-6 overall record. Cincinnati (20-7, 11-2) earned the third seed, while Saint Louis (20-9, 10-3) captured the fourth seed and final first round bye for the tournament at DePaul Athletic Center.
Action gets underway at 1 p.m. CST on Friday, Nov. 22 as the 10th-seeded TCU Horned Frogs (12-17, 4-9) meet seventh-seeded Houston (17-11, 7-6). TCU will be making its first trip to the C-USA Tournament, while the Cougars will be vying for their second league title, after earning the 1997 title. Houston defeated TCU on Oct. 18 in regular season play. The winner of the Houston-TCU match will face No. 2-seed South Florida at 1 p.m., on Saturday.

Friday's 3 p.m. match features 11th-seeded Memphis (19-4, 4-9), against sixth-seeded Charlotte (17-14, 7-6). Earlier in the season, the Tigers notched a tough 3-2 win over the 49ers in regular season play. The winner of the Memphis-Charlotte match squares off with third-seeded Cincinnati on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Bearcats are after their second league tournament title and have been a semifinalist in six of the first seven C-USA Tournaments.

Friday's evening sessions begins with ninth-seeded UAB (13-19, 5-8) meeting eighth-seeded Southern Miss (15-14, 6-7) at 6 p.m. The Blazers will look to avenge a 3-1 loss to the Golden Eagles in regular-season action. The winner of the UAB-Southern Miss match will then play No. 1 Louisville at 6 p.m., on Saturday. The Cards are aiming for their third Conference USA Tournament title.

The final first round match pits 12th-seeded Marquette (12-14, 3-10) and fifth-seeded Tulane (21-13, 9-4) at 8 p.m. The Green Wave earned their first 20-plus win season since 1994 with a 21-13 mark this year and currently are on a seven-match win streak. The winner of the Marquette-Tulane match will face Saint Louis in Saturday's 8 p.m. quarterfinals.

C-USA TELEVISION NETWORK
The Conference USA Television Network will carry the C-USA Volleyball Tournament Championship game on Monday, Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. EST. Don Russell will announce the play-by-play with Amy Prichard providing the commentary. Here is a list of local televisions that will be carrying the game (As of Nov. 18)
Charter Communications - Live
Fox Sports Net Florida - Live
UNC Charlotte Cable Television - Live
Fox Sports Net Chicago - Tape Delayed on Nov. 27 at 12 p.m.
Comcast Charter Sports Southeast - Tape Delayed on Nov. 26 at 5 p.m.
WXIV-TV, Greensboro - Tape Delayed on Nov. 30 at 3 p.m.
Cox Productions, New Orleans - Tape Delayed, Time TBD
WFTE-TV, UPN 58 - Tape Delayed, Time TBD

COACHING MILESTONES
Saint Louis' MARILYN NOLEN is only one victory away from becoming the third Division 1 coach to tally 800 wins at four-year institutions. She has a career record of 799-335-12 in 31 years of coaching. Southern Miss head coach SANTIAGO RESTREPO is only one win away from posting his 100th career victory. He currently holds a 99-65 career record.

THE CARDINAL CONSTANT
Under head coach LEONID YELIN, Louisville has advanced to the last four finals of the C-USA Tournament, winning the title in 2000 and 1998. The Cards lead the league with a total of five championship final appearances.

DID YOU KNOW?
South Florida is the only school to win consecutive C-USA Tournament titles. No C-USA Tournament champion has been able to repeat since South Florida captured the 1995 and 1996 titles. Here is a look at the last seven champions.

2001 DePaul
2000 Louisville
1999 Cincinnati
1998 Louisville
1997 Houston
1996 South Florida
1995 South Florida

BEARCAT REIGN ENDS
With South Florida and Louisville sharing the 2002 C-USA regular season title, it ended Cincinnati's reign of this crown. The Bearcats had won the 2001 and 2000 out right, while sharing the 1999 title with Houston.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of the top individual performers in C-USA from Nov. 11-17.

COURTNEY BURG, CHA: Led Charlotte to three wins last week, including the 49ers' first-ever victory over Houston. She posted her 19th double-double performance of the season with 20 kills and 16 digs against Houston.

TRISH LADUSAW, CIN: Became the first player in league history and eighth player in NCAA history to surpass 2,000 career digs. She is now seventh on the NCAA's all-time in career digs with 2,006.

JENNY TANNEBERGER, HOU: Posted her ninth 20-plus kill performance against East Carolina with 22 kills for a .268 attack percentage. She has tallied double-digit kill showings in all but two matches this season.

COLLEEN HUNTER, SLU: Posted her 16th match with at least 20 kills when she tallied 27 against Southern Miss. She also became the first player in school history with at least 600 kills in two different seasons.

MICHELLE COLLIER, USF: Averaged 7.0 kills per game for the week, including a 27-kill performance against Cincinnati.

BRIDGET FILES, USM: Tallied 37 kills, 21 digs, nine blocks and two aces to lead the Golden Eagles to a 1-1 record last week. She recorded her 10th double-double of the season, registering 15 kills and 13 digs against Saint Louis and posted a season-high .606 attack percentage against Memphis.

DOMINIKA SZABO, TCU: Led the team in kills last week, including a 28-kill performance against Charlotte. She finished the week, averaging 5.22 kills and 1.67 digs per game.

THE 30-KILL CLUB
During the 2001 season, Conference USA led the nation with six players who had posted 30-plus kills in a game. This season, the league has already surpassed that mark with nine C-USA players tallying a total of 15 30-plus kill performances.

C-USA'S CAREER PERFORMANCES
After posting 15 kills against Northeastern on Sept. 5, South Florida's MICHELLE COLLIER captured the league's career record in kills. Collier currently has a total of 2,560 kills in 453 games played. On Oct. 22, Saint Louis' COLLEEN HUNTER surpassed DePaul's Stephanie Bishop (1998-01) for second place on C-USA all-time kills list. Hunter became only the third player in league history to reach 2,000 career kills. She now has 2,197 kills in 484 matches played.

Cincinnati's TRISH LADUSAW became the first C-USA player to reach 2000 career digs. She broke the C-USA all-time digs record with a total of 2,006 in 452 games played. She surpassed former Blue Demon Stephanie Bishop (1998-01), who notched 1,842 career digs in 493 games played.

NCAA STATISTICS
Here is where C-USA ranks among the 2002 national statistical leaders as of Nov. 11.

KILLS
7. Britney Hurst, TUL 5.44
8. Michelle Collier, USF 5.42
11. Colleen Hunter, SLU 5.31
15. Julie Dupont, CIN 5.26
16. Jenny Tanneberger, HOU 5.25

ASSISTS
11. Laura Lauder, CIN 13.39
12. Jennifer Craven, LOU 13.22
21. Alessandra Domingos, USF 12.93

BLOCKS
9. Rachel Torblaa, CIN 1.57
27. Colleen Hunter, SLU 1.42

DIGS
7. Trish Ladusaw, CIN 4.85
18. Sarah Drury, LOU 4.43

HITTING PERCENTAGE
16. Benny Flynn, LOU .379

TEAM KILLS
8. Louisville 16.92
14. Cincinnati 16.59
24. South Florida 16.42

TEAM ASSISTS
10. Louisville 15.41
15. South Florida 15.02

TEAM BLOCKS
15. Cincinnati 3.11
30. Louisville 2.75

TEAM DIGS
8. Houston 19.07

HITTING PERCENTAGE
26. Louisville .266
27. South Florida .260